³ For the enemy hath persecuted my soul; He hath smitten my life down to the ground: He hath made me to dwell in dark places, as those that have been long dead.

⁴ I am reckoned with them that go down into the pit; I am as a man that hath no help,

⁵ Cast off among the dead, Like the slain that lie in the grave, Whom thou rememberest no more, And they are cut off from thy hand.

⁶ Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, In dark places, in the deeps.

¹¹ Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are clean cut off.

⁶ He hath made me to dwell in dark places, as those that have been long dead.

⁶ Attend unto my cry; For I am brought very low: Deliver me from my persecutors; For they are stronger than I.

³ For strangers are risen up against me, And violent men have sought after my soul: They have not set God before them. Selah

⁴ Let them be put to shame and brought to dishonor that seek after my soul: Let them be turned back and confounded that devise my hurt.

¹² I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind: I am like a broken vessel.

¹³ For I have heard the defaming of many, Terror on every side: While they took counsel together against me, They devised to take away my life.

⁹ From the wicked that oppress me, My deadly enemies, that compass me about.

¹⁰ They are inclosed in their own fat: With their mouth they speak proudly.

¹¹ They have now compassed us in our steps; They set their eyes to cast `us' down to the earth.

¹² He is like a lion that is greedy of his prey, And as it were a young lion lurking in secret places.

¹³ Arise, O Jehovah, Confront him, cast him down: Deliver my soul from the wicked by thy sword;

⁵ Let the enemy pursue my soul, and overtake it; Yea, let him tread my life down to the earth, And lay my glory in the dust. Selah

¹ O Jehovah my God, in thee do I take refuge: Save me from all them that pursue me, and deliver me,

² Lest they tear my soul like a lion, Rending it in pieces, while there is none to deliver.

¹¹ And Joab said unto the man that told him, And, behold, thou sawest it, and why didst thou not smite him there to the ground? and I would have given thee ten `pieces of' silver, and a girdle.

²² And Abner said again to Asahel, Turn thee aside from following me: wherefore should I smite thee to the ground? how then should I hold up my face to Joab thy brother?